South African Minister of State Security Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba makes it clear that while the Jewish community is under no particular threat, the department of state security takes seriously its mandate to protect the country’s citizens.

Lawyers are preparing criminal and civil charges following one of the darkest weeks of anti-Semitism in South Africa. There have been a slew of vile incidents that sent shock waves through the community.

The SA Friends of the Beit Halochem Zahal Disabled Veterans Organisation was established in Johannesburg in 1982, its primary goal being to help and support Zahal disabled veterans by raising funds to help them return and resume their normal lives as soon as possible.

Dr Ali Bacher, former South African cricket captain and administrator, was one of the five recipients of the 2018 Steve Tshwete Lifetime Achievement Awards at the SA Sport Awards held in Bloemfontein on Sunday night.

Devotion to the cause of the State of Israel flourishes in the most unlikely places, even in societies where the Jewish presence is small to non-existent. Such is the case in Mozambique, where the work of Beth-El Associacao Crista Amigos De Israel - Mozambican Christian Friends of Israel - testifies to how much can be achieved by those inspired by their Christian faith to promote the Israeli cause, despite adverse conditions.

JNF’s unique “Blue Boy Box” now lives at King David Linksfield Pre-Primary so that children of each generation learn the importance of tzedakah (charity or welfare). It is the responsibility of Jews all over the world to build Israel, develop it and nurture it as the home of the Jewish nation

“Knowledge is Light” was our school motto when I was a child in Durban. The importance of education was made clear to us from as far back as I can remember. It wasn’t taken for granted. A good education was a privilege.

Late on Tuesday, a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into effect. While at the time of writing the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) had still not confirmed the existence of such a truce, Israeli citizens living in the south of the country were told they could return home and to “normalcy”.

The Israeli gymnastics team was out in full force at 48th FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships that began at Aspire Dome in Doha, Qatar, on Thursday. There are five males and two females in the team headed by new Israeli sensation Artem Dolgopyat. The others are Alexander Shatilov, Ilan Korchak, Andrey Medvedev, and Michael Sorokine, while the women are Ofir Netzer and Meitar Lavy.

As I was heading home on Tuesday, I heard on ChaiFM that 460 rockets had been fired from Gaza into Israel since late Sunday. That is an outrageous number. If every one of them hit inhabited areas, thousands of Israelis would have been killed.

“The president is not directly responsible for acts of domestic terrorism, but he should be more careful with his language.” That’s the way the Economist headlined its report on the horrific Pittsburgh killings just more than two weeks ago.

With Prince William’s historic visit to Israel this week, all eyes have been trained on the Jewish capital. It may have taken 70 years, but the first official visit by a member of the British Royal family began in Israel on Monday, when William, the Duke of Cambridge, arrived in Tel Aviv.

Some 5 600 emissaries (shluchim) from Chabad-Lubavitch from all over the world gathered at the Pier 8 warehouse in Brooklyn, New York this week for the opening of their four-day annual international conference and banquet, 75 years after the arrival of the Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, from Europe.

“The greatness of our nation is that our people are great. We are a nation of heroes, of people with good and decent moral fibre who will not tolerate our country being plundered!” So said Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein in Pretoria this morning.“This is a struggle for accountability and justice,” Goldstein told the crowd (which included prominent Jewish CEOs like Adrian Gore, Stephen Koseff and Michael Katz). “This struggle is about sovereignty. The power of the people always triumphs in the end.”

A dismal Wimbledon for Jewish players

As at the time of writing, Wimbledon 2015 is winding down to a dramatic and exciting climax. Wimbledon is of course the stand- out annual grand slam tennis event on the pro circuit and one which is avidly followed right across the globe.

by
ILAN HERRMANN | Jul 08, 2015

Wimbledon is not just a gathering for sport, it has also fashionably become a mixing of all sorts, including politicians, singers, actors, sport stars and sometimes even the queen of England!

This year’s tournament has had its fair share of thrills and spills as it usually does, with some magical tennis and some shock defeats. The demise of former world number one Rafael Nadal continues. Having come in to the tournament seeded 10th, he was disposed of by the 102nd seeded Dustin Brown of the US.

The top seeds of Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka have all made good, which bodes well for a grand finale.

Serena Williams easily defeated her sister Venus in round four and is looking to continue her 2015 grand slam march, having won both at the Australian and the French Opens.

Jewish participation in this year’s event has seen few high points.

A dismal set of qualifying rounds saw Shahar Peer, Amir Weintraub and Julia Glushko, all of Israel, tumble out.

Men’s singles hopefuls, Diego Schwartzman and Dudi Sela, fared little better after first round defeats. Israel's Sela went down in four sets against Dominic Thiem of Austria, while the Argentine Schwartzman lost in straight sets to hard-hitting Australian, Nick Kyrgios.

Sela put the defeat behind him saying: “Now I’m looking forward to Israel’s Davis Cup match at home to Slovenia. After that I’ll play Challenger tournaments in America and I hope to finish the season strongly.”

Italian, Camilla Giorgi, the last Jewish singles player left in the competition, had a good run through the early rounds. The 25-year-old, seeded 32nd in the ITP rankings and originally from a quaint little town, Macerate, near the Adriatic Sea in Italy, defeated Brazilian Teliana Pereira in round one and then Lara Arruabarrena of Spain in round two, to set up a third round tie against the Danish fifth seed Caroline Wozniacki.

Giorgi is known for her aggressive style and for guiding her shots with precision close to the tramline. She also has a great record against Wozniacki, coming in to Wimbledon having beaten her twice in their last three meeting.

This time, however, she got the jitters. A relentless string of unforced errors as well nine double faults paved the way for a comfortable Wozniacki victory.

In the men’s doubles draw Israel’s Jonathan Ehrlich partnered with Philipp Petzschner of Germany. Since last playing with colleague Andy Ram on the ATP Tour in the Australian Open in January 2014, Erlich has time and again changed partners, recording little success.

Erlich and Petzschner registered a four-set victory over Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Andreas Seppi in round one. They then defeated Scott Lipsky and Treat Huey in straight sets in round two. Lipsky incidentally is also Jewish and at age 35, a US veteran of the doubles game.

The pair then continued their good run, defeating Marcus Daniell and Marcelo Demoliner in round three, in a four set humdinger, winning 6-3 4-6 6-3 6-3, to book a place in the quarter- finals.

South Africans had much to shout about as Kevin Anderson the world number 14, nearly caused a major upset against world number one Novak Djokovic in the fourth round. It was nothing less than a gruelling dog fight, with Anderson hitting some 40 odd aces against the reigning champion.

Djokovic continuously threw his arms in the air in frustration over the course of the five set match, venting his frustration at being unable to break down the South African. From Djokovic’s side, having rallied from two sets down and being on the verge of defeat, he showed what a true champion he is eventually winning 6-7 6-7 6-1 6-4 7-5.

While Roger Federer is a firm good bet, a strong candidate to go through is home town favourite Andy Murray and if they can overcome their opponents, with Murray playing some of his best tennis and Novak with a reprieve after the Anderson duel, we may yet see one of the finest Wimbledon finals in recent memory.

1 Comment

1
Denis Solomons
09 Jul

i think that the last good Jewish tennis player was Jason Gimmelstop ?
Maybe they would do better if they played with matza balls instead of tennis balls .
Wasn't Brad Gilbert Jewish ?
And our own Ilana Kloss was a good player winning Wimbeldon Junior .